I confess, if there were an Olympic event for procrastinating, I would take the gold. The OAC might even have to create a platinum medal for the level of excellence I have achieved in putting things off and wasting time. If you notice the amount of time that passed between blog post #2, and post #3 … you get my drift.
By re-starting this blog, I have become aware of all the little things I put off in the past that don’t take much time, but I told myself I didn’t have the time to do. Either something else was more important, or I would talk myself into playing around with one distraction or another until I truly didn’t have the time left to take care of these small tasks. Where did this get me? Well, I had a killer score in Gardens of Time, and some impressive high scores in Spider Solitaire and Mah Jong, but I also had a chronically dirty kitchen, paperwork that I’d “get to soon”, vacuuming that needed to be done, and so on.
In the spirit of this blog, I am giving this whole concept of getting back to doing what I want to do, and what I need to do NOW … not later when the opportunity has passed, or the task has suddenly morphed into an emergency … but NOW, when I can get the task done easily, calmly, and clear it from my psyche. Where is this getting me? Frankly, I’m stunned at how many little things I can take care of that I never managed to get done before … vacuuming up the extra cats-worth of hair on the rug, getting the dishwasher filled or emptied, cleaning the cat box every day, getting those few groceries I meant to pick up, writing emails to my students’ parents in a timely fashion, flossing my teeth … the list goes on. I used to marvel at people who got tons of things accomplished in one day. Now I’m gaining insight on how they do it. If it’s a short task that can easily be completed in a few minutes … JUST DO IT! (My apologies to Nike for that one.)
I am also applying this to the more daunting tasks. Instead of putting off a conversation to clear up a misunderstanding in a friendship, I’m making that phone call, sending that email, or finding some way to reach out before what was a simple hiccup in the communication process turns into some weird creature that has a life of its own. I keep looking to see if what is really important isn’t getting put to the side just to get these little tasks done. This process is leading me to a whole new awareness of “now” and of the concept of “presence”, and how we have a choice in what we do with each little “now”.
Back in the Saddle 